Britons Support Bringing Back Death Penalty For Child Killers and Terrorists, Say Pollsters

Two UK pollsters have released research on public attitudes to the death penalty, finding strong public support for executing child killers and terrorists in the wake of the Southport child murders.

The British political class is wildly out of tune with the public on the matter of capital punishment, two pollsters have found in separate research published within hours of each other on Wednesday, with the British public overwhelmingly in favour of bringing back the death penalty. Pollster More in Common states its findings — their first survey on capital punishment since Autumn 2023 — states a clear majority of 55 per cent support reinstating the death penalty in principle.

This is an increase of five points since 2023, with those opposing falling by a corresponding five from 37 to 32 per cent. Yet support for the death penalty for specific crimes is much higher, with 70 per cent supporting capital punishment for multiple murders or terrorist killers. Support for the death penalty for a single non-political murder was comparatively low, with a plurality at 46 per cent.

Meanwhile, major pollster YouGov also found that the public were a lot less supportive for the death penalty being meted out in all cases of murder, with support at just 35 per cent. Yet in special cases their research found strong support, with capital punishment support for multiple murder up two points to 58 per cent in a month, and up two points to 57 per cent for terrorism.

There was strong majority support for the murderers of children too, with 56 per cent in favour, up four points in a month, a particularly pertinent finding given the research took place after the jailing of Axel Rudakubana, the knifeman who stormed a children’s dance party in Southport last year with, the judge found, intent to kill all those inside. He was able to stab 11 children, three of whom died.

Because Rudakubana was nine days shy of his 18th birthday when he stabbed three young children to death, mutilating them and attempting to behead one, the court heard, he was not eligible for the strongest possible sentence in Britain’s legal system of a whole life order. This instantly triggered a public debate on whether Rudakubana should have been tried as an adult, and further had he been so whether a life sentence really was a fair punishment for him and deterrent to others.

As reported last week, prominent Reform UK politician Rupert Lowe MP was among the first to break cover on this matter, stating “It is my opinion that now is the time for a national debate on the use of the death penalty in exceptional circumstances. This is an exceptional circumstance.”

While Lowe appears to stand with public opinion on this matter, it is clear the Westminster political class otherwise takes a more paternalistic view of the matter, strongly opposing capital punishment regardless of what the nation as a whole thinks. As previously stated, public opinion was in favour of capital punishment when a Labour government abolished hanging in the 1960s and has been in favour of bringing it back ever since.

Yet this is a political can of worms Westminster simply does not want to open. The Times, which also reported the More in Common statistics on Wednesday, cites a government spokesman who gave the line that the state considers the matter settled and is not interested in talking about it. They said: “The government has no plans to bring back capital punishment. Parliament abolished the death penalty more than 50 years ago, and in free votes has consistently voted against it being restored in recent decades.

“In 1998, parliament made clear in a free vote that it was opposed to the death penalty for all offences.”